Air Travel Needs Tech Upgrade, Biz Travelers Say

CREDIT: Business travelers at airport image via Shutterstock View full size image

Many business travelers think it’s time that airlines and airports get on board with advanced travel technology, a new survey found. High on the wish list of today’s tech-savvy travelers are mobile functionality, Wi-Fi accessibility and push-travel notifications.

Mobile, day-of-travel notifications are critical for business travelers, a survey of more than 2,600 travelers found. The survey was part of research on travelers' technology expectations conducted by FlightView, a travel information provider.

More than 94 percent of travelers want the status of their flights pushed to their phones, 63 percent want to be notified about upgrade availability and more than 70 percent want to receive an alert when their flight is boarding.

[Get 'First-Class' Travel, Without Being Taken for a Ride]

Conflicting flight information regarding when flights are significantly delayed or cancelled  is the No. 1 source of frustration for business travelers (37.3 percent), followed by inaccurate or unavailable updates on new departure times (35.7 percent), and having no insight into where the plane currently is and when it will arrive at the gate (27 percent).

More business travelers want mobile boarding capabilities. More than 80 percent of business travelers surveyed would have used mobile boarding passes if they had been available.

Airport and in-flight Wi-Fi is the weakest link in the travel technology chain, the survey found. Only 28 percent of business travelers are satisfied with in-flight Wi-Fi offered by the airlines. Airports aren't doing much better, pleasing less than a third (32 percent) of all road warriors.

"Business travelers, pressed for time, want access to new tools and technologies that make traveling easier and more efficient," said Mike Benjamin, CEO of FlightView. "Every time an airport or airline rolls out a new offering, it raises travelers’ expectations, which, in turn, puts pressure on others in the industry to quickly adopt and integrate new technologies."

This story was provided by BusinessNewsDaily, a sister site to LiveScience. Reach BusinessNewsDaily senior writer Ned Smith at nsmith@techmedianetwork.com. Follow him on Twitter @nedbsmith and BusinessNewsDaily @bndarticles. We're also on Facebook & Google+.